Facing Reality
by angel.at.midnight
Summary: Sakura had always thought that the perfect kiss would be with a hot, tanned lifeguard on a sandy beach as they watched the sun slowly drop down below the horizon of a clear blue ocean. But she should have known that dreams rarely come true. 1shot Sasusaku


Facing Reality

by angel. at. midnight

Sakura had always thought that the perfect kiss would be with a hot, tanned lifeguard on a sandy beach as they watched the sun slowly drop down below the horizon of a clear blue ocean. But she should have known that dreams rarely come true.

Disclaimer: No, I will never be good enough to own Naruto. And I'm sure that something like this story has been done before, but I'm not trying to steal any ideas here.

Hope you enjoy it!

* * *

A young woman, barely more than a girl, sat on a smooth boulder in a secluded part of the forest. The darkness of the night cloaked her small, slim form; a gentle breeze played with her short pink locks; the light from the full moon illuminated her heart-shaped, upturned face. Her bright green eyes shone with an innocent wonder as she looked around her. Only the metallic glint of a sharp kunai lying next to her hand gave any indication that she might be more dangerous than her childish appearance suggested. The engraved metal piece on her headband indicated that she was a ninja from Konohagakure, and those who recognized her face also knew that she could easily break the stone she was currently sitting on with a single finger.

Sakura looked back into a small clearing where a campfire was burning. Seeing the sleeping forms of her three teammates, Sakura turned back to scanning the forest with a small, content smile. Unable to sleep, she had volunteered to take first watch, but it didn't seem that anything dangerous would be approaching. Sakura allowed herself to relax a little, easing the tension of her muscles but still keeping her senses sharp.

Sitting by herself in the quiet night, Sakura sighed wistfully. The absence of noise from any other living thing made her feel small and alone. It was nice to be able to hear her own thoughts without Naruto's constant shouting, but Sakura disliked such complete solitude. She could almost hear Ino's voice telling her to _get a boyfriend already_. Even if she could just do that, Sakura knew better than to take Ino's advice on such matters. Ino, who had broken up with Shikamaru for the nth time, had gone through five different boyfriends in the past two months, none of whom had lasted more than a week. Sakura had always known that a girl couldn't just pick a guy, call him her boyfriend and be happy, and her best friend had proved it time and time again. Sakura let out another breath that was visible as a white cloud in the cool air. She was a kunoichi on a mission, but at the same time, she was also a teenage girl and part of her still held on to the childish dream of a perfect first kiss.

Sakura shook her head at her fantasies—she should be keeping watch, not letting her mind wander off. She sighed once more and looked up just in time to hear a faint rustling behind her. Without looking back, Sakura flung her kunai at the source of the sound and whirled around to face her target, another kunai already in her hand. Her eyes widened when she saw the person she had just tried to attack.

Had her target been anyone else, the intruder probably would have been bleeding severely. Sakura was a good shot as well as a medic, and she knew where to aim even with her eyes closed. But as luck would have it, Sakura had just thrown her kunai at none other than Uchiha Sasuke—one of Konoha's most talented shinobi, wielder of the Sharingan, and Sakura's teammate. With his lightning-fast reflexes Sasuke had dodged her attack, but in the darkness he hadn't moved quite far enough, and a thin red line of blood now stood out against the pale skin of his cheek. Sakura gasped and hurried over to him as he calmly wiped away the blood and bent down to pick up the kunai.

"Sasuke-kun! I'm so sorry," she exclaimed.

Sasuke allowed her to heal the small cut. "Hn. You were doing your job. Don't be sorry." He rubbed the spot where he had been cut; the skin was smooth with no sign of a scar. Sasuke followed Sakura as she walked back to the rock where she had been perched.

"So, why are you here?" Sakura asked as Sasuke sat down next to her.

"Couldn't sleep. Stupid dobe snores too loud," Sasuke bluntly replied.

Sakura let out a soft, airy laugh. "Kakashi-sensei doesn't seem to be bothered by it," she noted.  
Sasuke grunted. "As long as he has that book of his, he can ignore anything else." Sakura giggled and nodded in agreement.

The two teens sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments. Surprisingly, Sasuke was the one to break the quietness. "Are you tired? I won't be able to go back to sleep, so I could switch with you. You're our medic; you need your rest."

Sakura smiled, touched that her normally aloof teammate cared about her well-being, but she declined. "My shift isn't over yet, and it's so peaceful sitting here. I think I'll be alright. But thank you for offering, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke let out a sigh. "Hn. Have it your way then." He paused, then almost as if he were unsure of himself, added, "I can stay here and keep you company, if you want." Sakura beamed; someone to talk to, or at least sit with, had been exactly what she needed. As she nodded, the air around Sasuke seemed to lighten up, and he shifted into a more comfortable position.  
Seemingly out of the blue, Sasuke turned to the girl next to him. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

Startled and slightly confused, Sakura stared at him. "What do you mean?" she asked back.  
Sasuke smirked. "Before you tried to kill me—" Sakura flushed and opened her mouth to protest, but Sasuke didn't give her the chance to. "—you kept sighing and you seemed unhappy. Is anything wrong?" he finished.

Remembering what she had been thinking about before Sasuke came, Sakura blushed an even deeper shade of red and ducked her head in embarrassment. "It was nothing," she said.  
Sasuke raised a brow skeptically. He was curious now, and he hated not knowing what was going on. "Aren't you the one who told me that it's better to let things out?" He threw back the words Sakura had told him when he had once refused to talk to her.

Sakura winced at his words; the pain she had felt when Sasuke hadn't trusted her enough to open up to her was still a fresh memory. She half-glared at the boy—man—she could now call her friend. "You are one sneaky person," she said in a disapproving tone.

Sasuke snorted, unable to hide his amusement. "Of course I am. I'm a ninja. What did you expect?" he smirked.

_He's got a point there_, Sakura thought. The atmosphere had eased up enough that Sakura felt able to spill her thoughts, despite the embarrassment factor. She sighed before speaking.  
"It really is nothing. I was just thinking about how pathetic it is that I've never had a boyfriend or even been kissed before. And how I'll never get the perfect kiss that girls dream about." The blush on Sakura's cheeks refused to die down, and the pink-haired medic avoided looking at the person next to her.

Sasuke knew Sakura was probably uncomfortable telling this to any guy, even a teammate of six years, but her answer had left him with another question. "What do you mean by 'perfect'?"  
Sakura looked up at him, then shifted her gaze to the stars in the sky, finding them much easier to look at than Sasuke's dark gaze. "Well, I don't know, but I imagined that a perfect kiss would be on the beach at sunset. Night would be coming, but half of the sky would still be lit by the last rays of the sun, and the clouds would be pink and gold and purple. And the ocean would be reflecting the sky, and the only sounds would be the waves crashing and the seagulls crying. It would be just me and a lifeguard sitting on the sand. And then he would kiss me," she finished simply.

Then she let out a sigh. "But that's _never_ going to happen, because I've only been to the beach once, and that was on a mission because we live in the middle of a forest and there aren't any beaches around Konoha. And the only lifeguards I've ever seen were in movies, and they all had blond hair, and Naruto is the only guy I know with blond hair and he definitely isn't a lifeguard. Not that I would kiss him, because he's _Naruto_ and he's like a brother to me and there is no way I would ever do anything to hurt Hinata. And I'm rambling. I'm really sorry if I bored you, but you asked, and I guess I got carried away, but there's my answer." Sakura inhaled deeply, then let out another breath, her face redder than ever.

She chanced a peek at Sasuke. His face was as impassive as ever, but there was a hint of amusement in his onyx eyes. Sakura groaned and buried her face in her hands, wishing that she could disappear into the ground and never have to face Sasuke again.

But when she heard him call her name, Sakura couldn't help but look up. Sasuke was so close that his face was the only thing that was visible to her, and before Sakura could move back, his arm was around her and he was tilting her head up and he was _kissing her_. Sakura's eyes widened in surprise and for a moment she was rooted to the spot, but then her eyelids slid shut and she was responding to his soft lips, reaching up to run her fingers through his silky midnight-black hair and pull him closer to her. Sasuke's hold on her tightened; her body fit perfectly against his own and he pressed his lips just a little harder to hers, wondering why he had never kissed Sakura before. Their hearts were beating faster than they ever had, but they were beating in the same rhythm. Neither wanted this moment to end, but they were growing lightheaded from the lack of oxygen, and finally they had to break apart.

Sasuke and Sakura leaned against each other and looked at one another with wide eyes, slightly panting for air, but savoring the sweet taste of their kiss. Sakura didn't need to ask herself if she was dreaming; the pain in her lungs and Sasuke's body warm against hers told her that the moment had been real.

Still holding her close, Sasuke whispered in her ear, "Was that good enough?"

There hadn't been a sandy beach, or a stunning sunset, or a movie-worthy lifeguard. Instead, there was a dark forest, a silver moon, and a ninja clothed in black. But that ninja was Sasuke, her first and only love, and Sakura couldn't have asked for anything more than that he be her first kiss.

"It was better than anything I could ever have imagined," Sakura breathed.

"So you won't mind if I steal your second kiss?" Sasuke smirked as he looked down at her.

With a grin on her face, Sakura responded, "Steal as many as you want."

Sasuke returned her smile, but it faded as he leaned back and moved his hands down to hold hers. Looking into her expressive green eyes, he asked, "Sakura, will you be my girlfriend?"

Seeing the softness—the _love_— in his gentle eyes and upturned lips, Sakura didn't hesitate. "Yes," she replied clearly, and the two leaned in for their first kiss as a couple.

* * *

When Kakashi woke up early the next morning, he vaguely wondered why he hadn't been awakened earlier to take watch. Upon seeing Sakura and Sasuke yelling at and kicking Naruto to try to rouse the sleepy blonde, Kakashi thought nothing of it, as he had awakened to a seemingly normal morning. But upon closer inspection, he noticed that Sasuke was standing closer to Sakura than he usually did; even more surprisingly, their fingers seemed to be laced together, and Sasuke wasn't pulling away. A chain that hadn't been around Sakura's neck before sparkled in the light; the pendant hanging from the necklace was in the shape of the Uchiha crest. Being the brilliant man he was, Kakashi quickly put the pieces together, then smiled, happy for his former students. _So, you finally asked her out, right Sasuke? Well, I hope that you will be happy with each other, and I wish you two the best._

* * *

Here's an "awww" fic for all you wonderful readers and reviewers. I was considering having Sakura mention Sasuke's first kiss (with Naruto! lol), but that would have completely killed the moment. And I was aiming more for sweet than funny. Though if it had gotten any sweeter, I think I would have sworn off candy for the rest of my life. Not chocolate though. This was meant to be a stand-alone fic, but I guess you could consider it a kind-of sequel/continuation of "Unexpected Transformations" if you squint hard enough. Either way, hope you guys liked it! Review please! And let me know if the longer paragraphs work or not. Thanks!


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